Yield Constraint Score: Global Crop Stress Impact on Four Staple Crops

A Yield Constraint Score (YCS) on a 1-5 scale quantifies the predicted impact of five key stresses—ozone, pests and diseases, soil nutrients, heat stress, and aridity—on the global production of maize, rice, soybean, and wheat. The 1° by 1° resolution data is based on crop production distribution from the year 2000, synthesizing modeled and observational data from sources like EMEP MSC-W (2010-2012), CABI (2002-2004), and CGIAR-CSI (1950-2000). These scores were developed under the NERC-funded SUNRISE and NC-Air quality projects to indicate where each stress affects yield and its magnitude.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing agricultural intervention zones based on the composite Yield Constraint Score for specific crops.
• Modeling climate change impacts on food security by analyzing heat stress and aridity index data from 1950-2000 and 1990-2014.
• Assessing regional ozone pollution damage to crop yields using modeled EMEP MSC-W data from 2010-2012.
• Estimating pre-harvest loss risks by integrating spatial data on pests, diseases, and soil nutrient classifications.

Strengths

• Integrates five distinct, globally-sourced stress factors (ozone, pests, soil, heat, aridity) into a unified 1-5 score.
• Provides a long temporal context, with source data covering periods from 1950-2000 (aridity) to 2010-2014 (heat, ozone).
• Has a specific, global spatial resolution of 1° by 1°, based on FAO GAEZ production data.

Limitations

• Core production data is anchored to the year 2000, which may not reflect current agricultural land use or climate patterns.
• Metadata for key attributes like row count, specific column names, and license information is missing or conflicting across platforms.
• The dataset combines data from different time periods (e.g., 1950-2000 aridity with 2010-2012 ozone), which may complicate temporal analysis.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre, developed as part of NERC-funded SUNRISE and NC-Air quality projects.

Collection Method

Scores derived by gathering and synthesizing global spatial data from models (EMEP MSC-W) and databases (FAO GAEZ, CABI, HWSD, CGIAR-CSI).

Time Range

1950-2014 (collective range of all source data: aridity 1950-2000, pests 2002-2004, soil 2009, ozone 2010-2012, heat 1990-2014).

Freshness

Last updated on one platform as 2026-04-16, though this appears to be a future date which may be an error.

Geography

Global at 1° by 1° resolution.